The Saints got on the scoreboard early, thanks to a first period goal from junior Rylee Smith in the first period. With about three minutes to go in the opening segment of the game, Smith found herself on a breakaway and managed to slip a shot past Dartmouth's normally steady goalkeeper Lindsay Holdcroft '14. Smith's goal was assisted by two Saints seniors, Kelly Sabatine and Brooke Fernandez. Even though Dartmouth took more shots than St. Lawrence in the first period with 12 compared to St. Lawrence's five they found themselves trailing on the scoreboard by a single goal.
"I can pretty confidently say that we outplayed St. Lawrence," defenseman Sasha Nanji '13. "The puck wasn't bouncing our way and we just struggled finishing the whole weekend there were a lot of bad bounces and we were missing easy opportunities."
Despite the discouraging start to the contest, the Big Green continued to battle through the second period, managing to even the game up on a goal by co-captain Reagan Fischer '12, who leads Dartmouth in goals scored. Midway through the second period, Fischer carried the puck into the St. Lawrence zone and floated a wrist shot just underneath the crossbar to beat the keeper and knot the game at one goal apiece.
"We were going in and kind of had a bit of a two on one rush," Fischer said. "I went to shoot the puck with some traffic in front of the net and I think the defense might have deflected the puck in."
In the second period, the Saints managed to outshoot the Big Green by a tally of 14 to eight, but were unable to break the Big Green defense for a follow-up goal. Even though St. Lawrence generated a decent attack throughout the game, Dartmouth seemed able to counter their puck movement with relative ease, particularly in the first two periods.
"They really like to move the puck," Holdcroft said. "We got a lot of blocked shots from the point and St. Lawrence is also really known for their speed they go straight up the ice and play a lot more north-south than east-west."
The two squads entered the third period deadlocked at one goal with each team grappling for whatever advantage they could find. St. Lawrence was booked for three penalties in the period as the game grew chippier and more physical. Dartmouth outshot the Saints 14-9 in the period, giving them an advantage in total shots for the game.
The first pivotal moment of the period came when St. Lawrence sophomore Amanda Boulier netted a slapshot with four and a half minutes to go to put the Saints back in the pole position. Sophomore Jackie Wand backhanded the puck to Boulier at the blue line, who one-timed a fiery slapshot past a sprawling Holdcroft in net.
"That last goal came very late in the third period," Holdcroft said. "They had the puck down low and got off a quick shot from the point. There was a lot of traffic in front of the net and there was a screen and the puck was tipped I think it deflected off one of their players and went in."
Even as Dartmouth trailed by a goal with time ticking away, the Big Green refused to fold, generating chance after chance, but failing to convert. With 50 seconds left in the game, the Big Green had what could have been its big break, when St. Lawrence junior Dayle Wilkinson was booked for a penalty. Dartmouth pulled their goalie, giving the Big Green a six on four advantage with less than a minute to play.
"We're very aware that special teams can make or break a game," Fischer said. "Not converting can really hurt you we generated a lot of chances, but we hit a couple posts. Their goalie made a couple good saves, but the power play has really been struggling this year and we're hoping to turn that around by this weekend."
In the final 20 seconds, Nanji ripped a slapshot at the net from the point, aiming to re-tie the game at deuces. Though the shot managed to beat St. Lawrence's keeper, it hit the crossbar and ricocheted down to the ice, dragging down the Big Green's hopes with it.
"We had a big advantage on the powerplay, I got the puck on the point after [Camille Dumais '13] passed it to me," Nanji said. "It hit the crossbar and there was actually a bit of controversy over whether it went in or not. I guess it didn't since the refs didn't count it on the scoreboard."
Dartmouth looked to bounce back from that painful loss Saturday afternoon with a slate against the No. 7 Clarkson Golden Knights. Clarkson was coming off of a Friday victory against Harvard University, who had previously been undefeated in conference play.
"They're a really good team," Holdcroft said. "They're fast, they're big and they were just coming off of a victory against Harvard so we knew they were going to come out excited."
The Golden Knights represented an even tougher challenge for the Big Green than the Saints had, especially considering that this marked the first Dartmouth-Clarkson battle of the season. Dartmouth's preparation for the game focused on ways to counter Clarkson's designed plays.
"We knew coming in that they were better than Clarkson," Nanji said. "We watched video of them beforehand to figure out what they do on the power play, what they do on the penalty kill, what they do on the forecheck."
Despite Dartmouth's best efforts, they could not stop the Golden Knights' attack. The onslaught came early and often with Clarkson tallying all five of its goals in the first 35 minutes of play. Despite the lopsided score, the teams actually each tallied 22 shots.
"They move the puck very quickly and have a great power play," Holdcroft said. "They bring the puck into the zone, then cycle it down low and play it from point to point. We had a couple of breakdowns and they capitalized."
One of Dartmouth's main failures in the game was its inability to execute on the power play. Despite Clarkson's 10 penalties, the Big Green never netted the puck on the power play. In fact, Clarkson scored more shorthanded goals than Dartmouth did with the man advantage.
"It was a little bit hard to stay focused out there, just because the second you would build back up your motivation, they would score another goal," Nanji said. "They started scoring on the second shift of the game and we could never really get back into the game. "
The loss to Clarkson dropped the Big Green to sixth in the conference with 16 points, still within striking distance of St. Lawrence and Quinnipiac. Dartmouth takes the ice again on Friday night in Hanover against No. 2 Harvard University. The Thompson Arena matchup will be televised on Fox College Sports.
